Author and political science professor Wendy Pearlman: “Syrians risk their lives and many gave their lives for the basic freedoms that many of us take for granted”

Author and political science professor Wendy Pearlman: “Syrians risk their lives and many gave their lives for the basic freedoms that many of us take for granted”

Justin Kaufmann and Wendy Pearlman

Northwestern professor and author Wendy Pearlman joins Justin to discuss her latest book, “We Crossed a Bridge and it Trembled: Voices from Syria.” Wendy talks about going to the Middle East to collect these stories, the brutal dictatorship of the al-Assad regimes, how Bashar Hafez al-Assad said he would bring political change to Syria, why many Syrians had hope when al-Assad took over from his father, why the Syrians feel betrayed and abandoned and believe the rest of the world let them down, ISIS taking advantage of the hole created by the war, how many Syrian families have been separated, the overwhelming challenges facing Syrian refugees and her effort to try and get Americans to appreciate and respect what Syrians have been through and how they have suffered.